chestnut

English

Chestnuts

Etymology

Formerly chesten nut, from Middle English chesten, Middle English chesteyne, chasteine, from Old English ċisten and reinforced by Old French chastaigne, both from Latin castānea, from Ancient Greek καστάνεια (kastáneia). Compare castanet.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛs.nʌt/, /ˈt͡ʃɛst.nʌt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsnʌt, -ɛstnʌt
• Hyphenation: chest‧nut

Noun

chestnut (countable and uncountable, plural chestnuts)

1. A tree or shrub of the genus Castanea.

   Synonym: chestnut tree

3. A nut of this tree or shrub.
4. (uncountable) A dark, reddish-brown colour, as seen on the fruit of the chestnut tree.

   chestnut:  

5. A reddish-brown horse.
   • 1871, Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes, volume 20, page 308:

     Lord Carington […] led the way with his chestnuts […]

   • 1877, George Nevile, Horses and Riding, page 105:

     […] browns are the soberest, bays are the worst tempered, and chestnuts are the most foolish.

6. (uncountable) Wood of a chestnut tree.
7. (figurative) An old joke; a worn-out meme, phrase, ploy, etc. so often repeated as to have grown tiresome or ineffective (often in the phrase "old chestnut").

   Synonyms: cliché, platitude

   • 1997 May 10, Larry Flick, “Singles”, in Billboard, →ISSN, page 62:

     Yep, this is a dance-leaning cover of the Matthew Wilder '80s pop chestnut. It has already saturated radio airwaves throughout Europe, with a number of programmers here already giving it positive feedback.

   • 2015 August 27, Michael Signer, “What Happens When Donald Trump Stirs Up 'Passionate' Supporters”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     Take greed. He’s been cited many times for what now has become a chestnut: “The point is, you can’t be too greedy.”

8. A round or oval horny plate found on the inner side of the leg of a horse or other animal, similar to a birthmark on a human.

   Synonym: night eye

9. (UK) The horse-chestnut.

Derived terms

Terms derived from chestnut (noun)

• American chestnut (Castanea dentata)
• Australian chestnut (Castanospermum australe)
• Cape chestnut (Calodendrum capense)
• chestnut-backed antshrike (Thamnophilus palliatus)
• chestnut-backed chickadee (Poecile rufescens)
• chestnut-bellied tit (Sittiparus castaneoventris)
• chestnut blight, chestnut canker, chestnut-bark disease
• chestnut-breasted mannikin (Lonchura castaneothorax)
• chestnut clearwing moth (Coptotriche perplexa)
• chestnut coal
• chestnut-eared bunting (Emberiza fucata)
• chestnut-flanked sparrowhawk (Accipiter castanilius)
• Chestnut Hill
• chestnutlike
• chestnut munia (Lonchura atricapilla)
• chestnut oak (Quercus montana)
• chestnut rail (Eulabeornis castaneoventris)
• chestnut teal (Anas castanea)
• chestnut tree (Castanea spp.)
• chestnutty
• China chestnut (Sterculia monosperma)
• Chinese water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis)
• dwarf chestnut (Castanea pumila)
• earth chestnut (Bunium bulbocastanum, Conopodium majus, etc.)
• European chestnut (Castanea sativa)
• horse chestnut (Aesculus spp.)
• Japanese chestnut (Castanea crenata)
• Korean chestnut
• liver chestnut
• Malabar chestnut (Pachira aquatica)
• Moreton Bay chestnut (Castanospermum australe)
• oak chestnut (Castanopsis spp.)
• old chestnut
• Polynesian chestnut
• pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire
• red chestnut (Taeniocampa rubricosa)
• rose chestnut (Mesua ferrea)
• sea chestnut (Echinoidea spp.)
• Spanish chestnut (Castanea sativa)
• swamp chestnut oak (Quercus michauxii)
• sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa)
• Tahitian chestnut (Inocarpus fagifer)
• water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis etc.)
• yellow chestnut oak (Quercus muhlenbergii)

 

Descendants

• → Gujarati: ચેસ્ટનટ (cesṭanaṭ)

Translations

chestnut tree — see chestnut tree

nut of the chestnut tree

• Albanian: gështenjë (sq) f
• Arabic: كَسْتَنَاء f (kastanāʔ)

  Egyptian Arabic: ابو فروة m (abō farwa)

  Hijazi Arabic: أبو فَرْوَة m (ʔabu farwa), كستنا f (kastana)

• Armenian: շագանակ (hy) (šaganak)

  Middle Armenian: շահպալութ (šahpalutʻ)

• Asturian: castaña (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: şabalıd (az), kəstanə
• Basque: gaztaina
• Belarusian: кашта́н m (kaštán)
• Bengali: বাদামী (bn) (badami)
• Bulgarian: ке́стен (bg) m (késten)
• Catalan: castanya (ca) f
• Cherokee: ᏘᎵ (tili)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 栗子 (leot⁶ zi²)

  Mandarin: 板栗 (zh) (bǎnlì), 栗子 (zh) (lìzi)

• Cornish: kestenen f
• Czech: kaštan (cs) m
• Danish: kastanje c
• Dutch: kastanje (nl) f, tamme kastanje (nl) f
• Esperanto: kaŝtano (eo)
• Estonian: kastan (et)
• Faroese: kastanja f
• Finnish: kastanja (fi)
• French: châtaigne (fr) f, marron (fr) m
• Friulian: cjastine f
• Galician: castaña (gl) f, bullote (gl) m, baloca f
• Georgian: წაბლი (ka) (c̣abli)
• German: Kastanie (de) f, Esskastanie (de) f, Edelkastanie (de) f

  Alemannic German: Chestene f (Uri)

• Greek: κάστανο (el) n (kástano)

  Ancient: κάστανον n (kástanon)

• Greenlandic: please add this translation if you can
• Gujarati: ચેસ્ટનટ (cesṭanaṭ)
• Hawaiian: pelakano, pelane
• Hebrew: ערמון (he) m (armon)
• Hungarian: gesztenye (hu)
• Icelandic: kastaníuhneta f, kastanía (is) f
• Ido: kastano (io)
• Indonesian: kastanye, berangan (id), lakci
• Irish: cnó capaill m, castán m
• Italian: castagna (it) f
• Japanese: 栗 (ja) (kuri)
• Korean: 밤 (ko) (bam)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: kestane (ku) f, berû (ku) f

• Lao: ໝາກກໍ່ໜາມ (māk kǭ nām)
• Latgalian: kaštans
• Latin: castanea f
• Latvian: kastanis
• Lithuanian: kaštainis m, kaštonas m
• Luxembourgish: Käscht f
• Macedonian: ко́стен m (kósten)
• Maltese: qastan
• Manx: castan m, cro Spaainagh m, castan Spaainagh m
• Maori: katania ratina
• Navajo: neeshchʼííłchííʼ
• Northern Sami: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kastanje (no) m

  Nynorsk: kastanje m

• Occitan: castanha (oc) f
• Ottoman Turkish: كستانه (kestane)
• Pannonian Rusyn: ґестиня f (gestinja)
• Plautdietsch: Kostaunt f
• Polish: kasztan (pl) m
• Portuguese: castanha (pt) f
• Romanian: castană (ro)
• Russian: кашта́н (ru) m (kaštán)
• Scottish Gaelic: castan m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кестен m

  Roman: kesten (sh) m

• Slovak: gaštan (sk) m
• Slovene: kostanj (sl) m
• Spanish: castaña (es) f
• Swahili: aramoni
• Swedish: kastanj (sv) c
• Tagalog: kastanyas
• Thai: เกาลัด (th) (gao-lát)
• Turkish: kestane (tr)
• Ukrainian: кашта́н m (kaštán)
• Vietnamese: hạt dẻ
• Volapük: kätan, kätuk
• Walloon: cascagne (wa) f
• Welsh: cneuen gastan f
• Yiddish: קעסט f (kest), קאַשטן m (kashtn), קאַשטאַן m (kashtan)

reddish-brown colour

• Armenian: շագանակագույն (hy) (šaganakaguyn)
• Asturian: marrón m
• Bulgarian: кестеняв (kestenjav)
• Catalan: castany (ca) m, marró (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 栗色 (zh) (lìsè)

• Czech: kaštanově hnědá f
• Danish: kastanjebrun
• Dutch: kastanjebruin (nl) n
• Finnish: kastanjanruskea (fi), pähkinänruskea
• French: marron (fr) m, châtain (fr) m
• Galician: castaño (gl) m, marrón (gl) m, pardo (gl) m, bis (gl) m, brun (gl) m, fouveiro m, teixo (gl) m
• Georgian: წაბლისფერი (c̣ablisperi)
• German: Kastanienbraun n
• Greek: καστανό (el) n (kastanó)
• Indonesian: merah manggis
• Irish: donnrua m
• Italian: castano (it) m
• Japanese: 栗色 (ja) (kuriiro)
• Latin: spādīx
• Macedonian: костенлива f (kostenliva)
• Maori: pākā
• Mongolian:
• Norwegian: kastanje (no)
• Portuguese: castanho (pt) m
• Russian: кашта́новый (ru) m (kaštánovyj) (hair color)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кестењаста f

  Roman: kestenjasta (sh) f

• Spanish: castaño (es) m, marrón (es) m
• Swedish: kastanjebrunt (sv), kastanj (sv)
• Turkish: kestane (tr)
• Vietnamese: nâu hạt dẻ

reddish-brown horse

• Arabic: أَشْقَر m (ʔašqar)
• Azerbaijani: kəhər
• Bulgarian: дорест кон (dorest kon)
• Finnish: raudikko, rautias (fi)
• French: alezan (fr)
• German: Fuchs (de) m
• Hungarian: pej (hu)
• Italian: castano (it) f
• Lithuanian: kaštonas m, kaštanas m
• Portuguese: castanho (pt) m
• Russian: гнедо́й (ru) m (gnedój), гнеда́я ло́шадь f (gnedája lóšadʹ), гнедо́й конь m (gnedój konʹ)
• Swedish: fux (sv)

wood of a chestnut tree

• Bulgarian: ке́стен (bg) m (késten)
• Finnish: kastanja (fi), kastanjapuu (fi)
• French: châtaigner (fr) m, marronnier (fr) m
• Galician: castiñeiro (gl) m, castaño (gl) m
• German: Kastanie (de) f
• Indonesian: kayu berangan
• Italian: castagneto (it) m
• Japanese: クリ材 (kurizai)
• Macedonian: ко́стен m (kósten)
• Russian: кашта́н (ru) m (kaštán)
• Swedish: kastanj (sv) c
• Turkish: kestane (tr)
• Vietnamese: gỗ dẻ

Adjective

chestnut (not comparable)

1. Of a deep reddish-brown colour, like that of a chestnut.

   chestnut hair

Translations

of a deep reddish-brown colour

• Asturian: castañu, marrón
• Bulgarian: кестеняв (kestenjav)
• Catalan: castany (ca), marró (ca)
• Danish: kastanjebrun
• Dutch: kastanjebruin (nl), kastanjebruine (nl)
• Finnish: punaruskea (fi), rautias (fi), kastanjanruskea (fi)
• French: marron (fr), châtain (fr)
• Galician: castaño (gl), marrón (gl)
• German: kastanienbraun (de)
• Greek: καστανός (el) (kastanós)
• Ido: kastanea (io)
• Irish: donnrua
• Italian: castano (it) (of hair)
• Japanese: 栗毛 (ja)
• Latin: spādix
• Lithuanian: kaštoninis
• Macedonian: костенлив (kostenliv)
• Portuguese: castanho (pt), marrom (pt)
• Punjabi: ਲਾਖਾ m (lākhā)
• Romanian: roib (ro)
• Russian: кашта́новый (ru) (kaštánovyj) (hair color)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кестењаст

  Roman: kestenjast (sh)

• Spanish: castaño (es), marrón (es)
• Vietnamese: nâu hạt dẻ

Related terms

• castanet

See also

• black bean
• buckeye
• caltrop
• chinquapin
• chinquapin oak
• conker
• maroon
• water caltrop
• Appendix:Colors

Further reading

• chestnut on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Chesnutt